2004 Theme: Nonexistance

[precipitate]

> Depending on how far you took it (banning alternate power sources too)
> Burning Man unplugged would also include no lights, even on the Man.
> That would kind of suck.

I dunno. Fire's pretty fucking powerful all on its own. And aside from
navigational aid, I think I could live without the neon. Although it's
beautiful. And iconic and shit.

[nym]

Themes are made to be broken.

As long as you're fine with no chance of getting funding from the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and don't care about being placed in undesirable locations.

Nym

[blyslv]

[quote="Immer Come out to Burning Man and play the same stuff you hear all the time in every club, on every radio station, and on TV. *Shakes his head*[/quote]

I like "Free Bird" as much as any raucous, rawkin rocker, but when I heard it for the 4th time in 4 days I was a bit dismayed. Now if they played Layla, down to the bird chirp, eh, that's a different story...

[blyslv]

[ There was (I believe) a level of intimacy between camps/neighbors that is sorely lacking these days.

That is an interesting notion.Long term exposure to loudness does make people more aggressive. It got ole' pinappleface to call it quits. And I'm not inclined to walk into a camp with a generator blarring just 'cuz it makes conversation difficult.

People from Hushville or the AEZ, what say you?

[III]

>no chance of getting funding from the Black Rock Arts Foundation

the black rock arts foundations is specifically for art *not* on the playa, and should be independent of the theme all the time anyways.

[Ivy]

the black rock arts foundations is specifically for art *not* on the playa

Then how is it they were funding the Temple of Honor?

[precipitate]

> how is it they were funding the Temple of Honor?

Hypocrisy? Convenience? Marketing?

Actually, now that I look at their web site, it only says interactive art.
Doesn't say on- or off-playa. But their grant recipients certainly don't
include David Best or the Temple of Gravity, so those must still be
funded either not in the public eye, or by the LLC.

And I don't think BRAF was directly funding Best, so much as soliciting for
him. You could buy signed limited-edition prints to fund the temple.

[blyslv]

> how is it they were funding the Temple of Honor?

It's their money, they can what they want with it. Nobody is forced to buy a ticket.

[III]

the black rock arts foundation is independently funded, and doesn't get your ticket money.

[Ivy]

I was under the impression that, while they don't get money from ticket sales, they do fund both on and off playa art.
They may have just been soliciting for Best, but I thought I recalled the signed print as part of your $250 gift to BRAF. But I could be mistaken--I didn't reald it too closely, since I ain't got $10, much less $250.

[x why z]

This thread seems to highlight a lack of both institutional trasparency and communication channels to the BM inner circle...

What are some thoughts on how that meshes with the non-heirarchical, anarchistic, grass-roots foundations of BM...?

Love yields analysis.

[Guest]

I love absolutley *love* that nym is very serious about the theme of there being no theme. Go nym, go!! Yes to whatever it is that happens with that!

what would BMorg do if the theme is geometry?

From the faq... "Black Rock City is organized as 2/3 of a circle. There are axes on each half hour, from 2:00 to 10:00, intersecting with 9 concentric semi-circles." Every freaking year!

I cherish it all, old and new; I look forward to see what the future brings

i think '98 (which, without checking the list, i think was the nebulous entity)

We don't wanna lost places like that.

Now where did I put that darn nebulous entity?

This thread seems to highlight a lack of both institutional trasparency and communication channels to the BM inner circle....
What are some thoughts on how that meshes with the non-heirarchical, anarchistic, grass-roots foundations of BM...?

The theme is determined by the man behind the curtain.

Themes are made to be broken.

Beautiful...maybe that's it...smash your reality...that's the theme!

Practically speaking, you could have an art piece and an anti-art piece on opposite sides of the city, camps and anti-camps, etc.

Let's make that a theme!

Can anyone provide a year-by-year listing of previous themes?

That way there would be no theme, and therefore no art monotony.

Maybe the art would be more monotonous without a theme, as those who've come up with an idea that they know what represents the ideals/principles of burning Man built the same kind of things year after year. I used to hate the themes, but now look at them as a little bit of chaos added to the mix for the artists to struggle with/against so the whole thing doesn't become the same old stuff year after year.

But the man being made of the same wood structure exactly forty feet tall every year, that I'm okay with.

BTW, I think I posted on the old eplaya, but can't remember under what name, If somebody finds me there, please let me know. You'd probably find me under a message that looks like I've read it eleven times and I still don't understand my point.

[blyslv]

the black rock arts foundation is independently funded, and doesn't get your ticket money.

Who/what funds the BRAF? Thanks for the clarification, I thought a portion of the ticket went to grants for artists (something that made me feel all warm and fuzzy).

[robbidobbs]

Nobody MAKES anybody follow the theme edicted by Larry. Get over it. If you know ANYTHING about throwing a successful, immense party, having a theme makes the participation that much more interesting -- adds an automatic community spirit to the whole chaotic mish-mosh. Gives people a modicum of an idea of what they'll do once they get there.
Consider: Toga Party, Costume Party, White Trash Party, Pin the Tail on the Chipandale Party, Jello-slide Party, etc.
I lived at The Water Truck Cul-de-Sac this year. Theme? What theme?

[Ivy]

Who/what funds the BRAF?

I don't know everyone, but I do know that I, as well as two of my belly dance friends fund the BRAF, with tips from our (hopefully) annual burning bellies showcase night.

[Kinetic II]

Pardon the long quote but it partially answers the funding question:

http://www.blackrockarts.org/case.html

>>Over the past several years, Black Rock City LLC, the legal entity that produces Burning Man, has distributed over $600,000 in grants to artists to help fund projects that are interactive and support the event's mission of building diverse communities and artist networks through the creation and exhibition of interactive art.

Each year, a handful of artists and artist networks creating theme-related art are selected and awarded grants directly from the citizens of Black Rock City through the form of ticket revenues. Since 1999, as participants have continued to organize and veteran artists conceive of more ambitious works, the capacity of artists to create new and impressive art has expanded exponentially. During this same period, the actual population of the city has increased by only 10% each year. This means that we have reached the limit of what can be contributed to the artists from ticket revenues. <<

I didn't see anything saying the funding mechanism had changed so apparently we still fund some of this stuff.

Last min addition I forgot to add: Contrary to common belief, Harvey stresses, the Black Rock Arts Foundation is not the funding body for Burning Man art grants.

[BlueBirdPoof]

all we need are a cowboy, an indian, a construction worker, a cop and, what's the fifth one?

Um--Fifth and sixth. How you could forget the Leatherman (gosh, that must have been America's first mass introduction to the S&M subculture) and the sixth was a Soldier, then he quit. He was replaced with a Sailor to the tune of "In the Navy."


(Talk about embarrasing trivia from a misspent youth--although being deliberately obsessed with VP in the 80s is probably cacaphonist of me.)

[BlueBirdPoof]

This thread seems to highlight a lack of both institutional trasparency and communication channels to the BM inner circle...

What are some thoughts on how that meshes with the non-heirarchical, anarchistic, grass-roots foundations of BM...?.

But none that I care to post on the board.

The theme is revolution--how do we wrest Burning Man from Larry, et al.

And what will BM be in 100 years?

[Chimp]

Hi all, this is a blatant crossthread attempt to push certain crossthread irritants to the bottom of the pile.

[Chimp]

Hi all, this is a blatant crossthread attempt to push certain crossthread irritants to the bottom of the pile.

[Licentious Queen]

Anything regarding ocean, pirate, ships, water, oceans, pirates, or something like that would be great for me and a lot of people.




CM

Yeah, me too...that would be truly awesome. But make that for '05...so I can be there for it. I think it would be truly beautiful. ::Visions of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean come rushing into my head:: Horrible flick in my opinion...except for Johnny, as always he is amazing.

Anyway, yes. Good idea.

[robbidobbs]

This thread seems to highlight a lack of both institutional trasparency and communication channels to the BM inner circle...
What are some thoughts on how that meshes with the non-heirarchical, anarchistic, grass-roots foundations of BM...?.

Can we puh-leeze get over this "us" and "them" focus? IMO it's counter productive. If someone wants to play King Cheeze on the Playa, then I'll be the first to put a Kameamea hat on them and dance with jingles. No big, as long as they're not interfering with my immediate experience. I've seen what exclusion can do to a department, and I'm not interested in participating in it. Just ask Adrian about ego vs art. The strength of BM... again IMHO... is that there IS a grass-roots foundation. I'm a warped example of grass-roots effort making a major impact. And my own sense of self-importance makes me feel warm and squishy!

You asked...
>The theme is revolution--how do we wrest Burning Man from Larry, et al.

"You say you wanna revolution...well..you know..."
Be careful of what you wish for.

> And what will BM be in 100 years?

Let's see....100 years ago today was 1904. Technology improves logarithmically, often with jumps, so really there isn't any way to predict what the next "killer app" will be.

As Digger used to say before going on Grave shift...
"Nobody dies and nobody gets arrested."
Good goal, eh? He also said...
"Take care of your shit, and your shit will take care of you."
Wise dude.

[BlueBirdPoof]

Robbidobbs--
My remark was pretty much facisious. I couldn't run BM and know it.

Digger is waaaay cool. He's done good by me in really black times.

[Captain Goddammit]

My first two years (2000, 2001) I didn't know there WAS a "theme", and haven't given a shit since! My cabin-cruiser artboat debuted in 2002 when we had "Floating World", but that was pure coincidence, I had no idea what the theme was gonna be. That actually kinda sucked, diluted the impact.
The moral of the story is build or do whatever you want anygoddamm way, fuck the lame-ass (at least in '03 and '04) "theme"!!!

[thehunt]

Themes can help people get inspiration, especially the artists.

I think there should be a theme everyyear.
Someone mentioned having a different shape, other than the rings and the semi-circle. That would mix things up for sure, almost too much. It would be too much to have to change shapes, but would'nt that be cool.

We could have like a triangle, or square, where there is a front area on every edge. Or if it was a thin diamond. That way, you wouldn't have to go far to get to the edge of the city or to the center.
Just some thoughts...

[Gothalot]

I wanna be in the middle of my own vision.

I wana be in the middle of Ivy, tee hee.

[maeabee]

The theme isn't just about physical appearance, it's a category of an emotion. Each year it's different, it makes you recall emotion and let it play on that particular area. This year being Vault of Heaven, I take this as a different area to explore than the themes from years past. Were too focused on appearances than natural smell, touch, taste and hear. Amazing what would happen if we all had to be much simplier.

[Sensei]

I'm not quite ready to commit, but I think 'nonexistance' is going to be my personal theme for '05.

[samtzu]

maeabee wrote:

...Amazing what would happen if we all had to be much simplier.

THAT'S what I'm going with this year... much simpler.

[With A K]

I say NO ThemeS!. I think people will be better able to be more participatory if the're not trying to be themed mined and !conform! for the sake of an event, specially for newbies, like I was. It's hard being a virgin and wanting to participate, and have neat costumes and a neat camp all with a theme...I don't want that stress and I do what I like/want anyway but OH how I wanted to be theme minded as well, I like to always have the right costume for the right party BUT I'd rather NOT for Burning Man!
Did any of that make any sense?